Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) (George Town)

 industrial zone, free economic zone, free trade zone

The Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone (Bayan Lepas FIZ) is a duty-free industrial area within the Penang Island. Located within the Bayan Lepas suburb, the Bayan Lepas FIZ is situated adjacent to the Penang International Airport (PEN) and the Second Penang Bridge. Due to the prominent hi-tech electronics manufacturing clusters within the Bayan Lepas FIZ, the zone is nicknamed the 'Silicon Valley of the East'. This industrial zone has played a pivotal role in diversifying Penang's economy, following the economic downturn in 1969 as a result of the removal of George Town's free port status by the Malaysian federal government.

The Bayan Lepas FIZ is built in four phases. Construction of Phase 1 began in 1972, while Phase IV was completed by the 1990s. Attracted by the zone's tax free status and the relaxation of American laws regarding production facilities abroad, the 'Samurai Eight' - Advanced Micro Devices, Agilent, Clarion, Fairchild, Hitachi, Intel, Osram and Robert Bosch - became the first multinational companies (MNCs) to build factories within the Bayan Lepas FIZ. Since then, hundreds of MNCs have established assembly plants and regional-level research centres within the zone, including Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Jabil, Seagate, Plexus, Bosch, Western Digital, B. Braun and St. Jude.

This industrial zone not only provides employment to thousands of Penangites and Malaysians from other states, it also boosted Penang's manufacturing sector, which to date, contributes over 2/5 of Penang's GDP. In addition, the zone has promoted the rapid development of Bayan Lepas, with adjacent townships and neighbourhoods such as Bayan Baru, Sungai Ara, Sungai Nibong and Batu Maung becoming urbanised in the following decades.